By Fr. Justin Fulton
Here is a picture of my niece Cecilia with my baby niece Juliana. It warms my heart. I pray it warms yours, too.
I love how you can see the pride and responsibility in Cecilia’s eyes. She’s a big sister now. She knows it is her role to be a mentor for her little sister. She knows it is her responsibility to care for and protect her little sister. Cecilia is up to the challenge and Juliana is prepared to receive the love and care Cecilia will give her.
We all could use a smile right now. This picture gives us an opportunity to smile.
Catholic Social Services of Southern Nebraska just finished giving nearly $120,000 in rent, utilities, and emergency cash assistance away in six weeks. That is right: $120,000 in six weeks! That’s $4,000 per business day. That is a lot of smiles! That is a lot of responsibility, care, and protection given to people that needed it throughout all of southern Nebraska.
Our staff have been working very hard meeting with people and making sure funds get to people who need them. We have helped provide people with the basic necessities of life and in doing so we have given people smiles... given people hope... and we have served Jesus in the poor.
It takes humility for some people to come ask strangers for monetary help in a time of need. And it takes care, compassion, and love to be able to give funds to people who need funds. At CSS we do not look at this exchange simply as a “transaction.” We see this as an “encounter”: we encounter a person who is down and out. We hear their deeper stories. We realize a deeper poverty than just needing some funds. We accompany them. We are Jesus to them, because they are Jesus to us. And if we can help them with money, we do.
It is a humbling responsibility that is given to us to be able to care for, protect, and encounter the people we help. We are grateful to God for entrusting us with this responsibility. We are grateful to you for your prayers and support.
As we enter into Advent, let us all recall that we are called to be role models for each other. We all share in the responsibility to care for and protect one another. We are all called to share our smiles and provide smiles for others. We are all called to be Jesus to one another.
May we live greatly and live with joy. Let us not just ‘keep the faith’ we have been given. Let us ‘share the faith’ we have been given—let us share Jesus with everyone we encounter.
May God bless and keep us all!
